Today’s
excerpt is from Ancient Rookie, a stand alone book featuring several new
characters, as well as Jim Scott and friends.
Chet comes to, then finds out about his bionic parts. Enjoy and have a great day.
m.j.
Twenty minutes
after the group reached Chet’s bed, he slowly started moving a bit. He opened his right eye, as his left eye and
most of his head were well bandaged. His
mouth was very dry. He found he couldn’t
talk. A nurse gave him a sip of water
before he slowly, softly said, “This can’t be a good thing. What happened?”
Dave moved to
his left side and took his hand, “You can’t remember anything?”
“Last thing I
remember was driving along 44, just past the Grand overpass. Then I come to…see you all standin’ there
like you expect me to be dead.”
Dave glanced at
Dr. Pulaski, who gave a gentle nod of the head, then started telling his father
what he knew of the accident, including of the death of Helen. At that point in the conversation, Chet
closed his good eye and opened it with moisture in it. “Tough on us, but probably a blessing for
Helen. Poor thing was in so much
pain. Her pain is over now.”
Dave nodded as
he told his father the consensus was his mother had died instantly—probably
never even knew something was amiss before she died. When he finished, Dr.
Pulaski asked everyone but Dave to leave the room for a few minutes. He briefly told Chet about the operation—what
he’d attempted to do—without going into great detail. Finished with that, he started to add, “Mr.
Coleman…”
Chet
interrupted, “Chet is fine, doc. Unless
you want to try on ‘Master Chief.’ Naw,
Chet’s fine…go on.”
“Good. In that case, I’m J.P. Or Jeep, to my close friends—which I have an
idea we’ll become before your rehab is completed. You’re stuck seeing a great deal of me for
the next several months…house calls for the most part.”
“You’ll get
kicked out of the doctor’s union for that.”
“Maybe, but I’ll
risk it.”
Chet asked what
Dave had thought to ask but decided against it, “What’s the J.P. stand for?”
Dr. Pulaski smiled, “Jasper Percy—I
only tell real good friends that.”
Chet tried to
nod, felt a shooting pain, causing him to decide nodding was something he’d not
try again soon. He said, “Can understand
the J.P., Jeep.”
“Yeah,
well. Okay, now for a little
experiment. Please move the little
finger on your right hand for me.”
Chet tried to
move the digit, without success. Dr.
Pulaski urged him to try again. On the
second try, the tip of the finger quivered.
Hiding his excitement, Dr. Pulaski asked him to try the next finger,
then the next. When all four fingers had
moved to some degree, the thumb was tried.
When it moved also, Dr. Pulaski let out a long, audible sigh. “We may have succeeded. But, that’s all for now. After you have a few minutes with your
family, you go ahead and get some rest.
After I catch a catnap, I’ll come back.
We can go into detail about what’s in front of you then. Dave, after everyone gets some time with
Chet, try to hold it down to one or two folks in here at once, so he can get
some rest.”
“Right—thanks,
Jeep.”
On his way out
of the room, Dr. Pulaski told the others to go on back in. Then they chatted for a while, until Chet
yawned. They all got the hint. As they left, Dave kissed his father on the
cheek. “See you in a bit, Dad.”
“Don’t hurry.”
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